Runaway Train
by ClearLikeButter
Summary: When Castiel is hunted by Angels and Demons alike, he leaves town to explore his humanity. In the mean time Sam and Dean try to help him best they can, but run into a world of trouble on their own. My take on a Castiel spin off.


**Summary: Abandoned by the Winchesters and hunted by his fellow angels after his betrayal, Castiel decides to leave everything behind and help the helpless. When he comes to a small town where mysterious events disrupt the townsfolks ordinary lives, Castiel learns more about love, humanity and true friendship then he bargained for.**

 **This story is AU and takes place somewhere in season 9 while Castiel is on the run from the other angels.**

 **A/N: This is mostly a Castiel/OC fanfiction, but of course the Winchester brothers and Bobby will also make an appearance in later chapters. Please review to let me know what you think and since English isn't my native language, I'm desperately looking for a Beta. So please, PM me if you're interested.**

 **I don't own any of the characters or lyrics in this chapter or any other chapters to come, wish I did though.**

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 **Runaway Train - Prologue**

Amber Whittaker hated walking through the forest at night. It was only half an hour before the curfew began at nightfall and after a long night waitressing at the local diner the last thing she needed was to spent the night in a police cell. She hugged her brown fur coat tighter to her body, the air was crisp and the frozen leafs on the ground crunched beneath her feet. She looked up at the starry sky for a moment and noticed to her great relieve it wasn't a full moon yet.

The moon lit her path in a soft silvery light and gave the forest a magical look. Yet she always felt the need to walk as quickly as possible because she could never seem to shake the eerie feeling that someone was watching her. Amy, one of her best friends had told her many times not to take the short cut through the forest, but stubborn as she was, she never listened to her advice. She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts by the sounds of soft footsteps behind her. Amber froze, a cold shiver ran down her spine, surprisingly enough the first thing she remembered was something she learned in the self-defense class she took a couple of years ago. ' _Never show them you're afraid.'_ She whispered to herself. She took a deep breath, counted to three and spun around with her fists slightly raised, ready to defend herself. There was no one there. After making sure there was nowhere the 'stalker' could have hidden himself, she relaxed her stance and nervously laughed to herself ' _Don't be an idiot, this sort of stuff only happens in bad horror movies'_ When she turned back around however she nearly had a heart attack and couldn't help but let out a small yelp.

Just a few yards away there was something on the cold forest floor, it was small and glistened brilliantly in the moonlight. Without losing focus she moved towards the object in a few fast strides. Fascinated by its beautiful silver color, she did not find it the least bit strange that there was a comb in the middle of the forest with no one else around for miles. She slowly bend forward and carefully reached out to touch the shiny object, afraid it would suddenly evaporate in to thin air. The comb felt cold and smooth beneath her fingers, without losing any of its glistening magic. She carefully wrapped her hands around it and lifted it from the ground. In her trance-like state she did not feel that the wind had picked up around her, she did not see the trees wavering and swaying in the storm and she did not notice the dark shadow creeping up behind her. Amber slowly came back to reality when she noticed the comb was no longer glowing. ' _That's strange.'_ only now the realization that finding a comb, which wasn't there before, in the middle of a forest was a bit weird, hit her. She didn't have much time to ponder over it, as she slowly became aware of the sound of ragged breathing coming from behind her. This time she didn't hesitate and whirled around with the comb clutched tightly in her hands to use it as a weapon. Luckily enough she managed to stop herself just in time from hitting the old, hunched over woman. Amber took a few heavy breaths to calm her nerves "I'm so sorry are you alright?" She asked the lady who had yet to move one foot. Amber could barely see her face, as she was wearing a big grey cloak covering most of her body. All she could see was long white, almost silver hair sticking out from under the hood and one of her thin skeleton like hands, which was clutching a wooden cane. The woman remained silent and Amber started to worry even more, again not thinking about the oddness of the situation. Suddenly the woman lifted one of her shaky arms and slowly pointed it at Amber without looking up. It took Amber a second too long to realize the woman was pointing at the silver comb she still held in her hands. After that everything went by in a blur, the woman raised her head, revealing her face, Amber froze and was so scared she couldn't even scream. The woman had a skeleton like face and her black hollow eyes pierced Amber's brown ones with an intense stare. Amber dropped the silver comb to the floor and ran. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, but it wasn't enough. She tripped over a tree branch and landed face-first into a pile of dry, frozen leaves. She scrambled to get up, but it was too late, in the corner of her eyes she saw the old lady glide towards her as an incredible, _inhuman_ , speed and the last thing she heard was an ear-piercing shriek, which deafened her instantly as she felt the rough fabric of the woman's cloak envelop her. Everything went dark, Amber Whittaker was no more.

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 **I** **t seems no one can help me now  
I'm in too deep  
There's no way out  
This time I have really lead myself astray**

Castiel, once an angel of the lord, had been wandering somewhere along the Hudson river for days, maybe even weeks now. He lost track of time and his exact location ages ago. At first he would teleport himself from town to town, but now his 'angel juice' was running low and he found himself walking, like ordinary humans did. Before long his legs were getting heavy and his feet were starting to burn. It was unlike anything Castiel had felt before, yet he knew exactly what it meant. He was getting tired. He was surrounded by trees and as he started down the long road in front of him, he couldn't see anything else but trees for miles to come. Castiel sighed and searched his trench coat pockets for his cell phone. No reception. Not that he had anyone to call anyway. The Winchesters were angry with him and even though he had tried to make up for his mistakes, they still didn't trust him. To make matters worse his fellow angels were now hunting him and he was becoming more human by the second. Defenceless, weak and without any means to protect himself.

Castiel knew he had himself to blame for all this and that's why he had decided to leave. Dean and Sam made it clear they didn't want his help and he didn't really know anyone else. He wanted to learn more about humanity and help wherever he could to atone for his sins. It wouldn't be enough, but it would be a start. His father's creations fascinated him to no ends.

'Hi there, stranger', a thick accented voice called out from beside him "Need a ride?'. Castiel nearly tripped over his own feet, while concentrated on his self-loathing thoughts he hadn't heard the white pick –up truck pull up beside him. The driver, somewhat reminded him of Bobby. A middle-aged man, with a beard and baseball cap. Castiel was a bit taken aback by the man's question. In his experience most humans were only friendly when they wanted something . As a reminder a hot flare shot through Castiel's right foot. "Uhh, yes I'd appreciate that". He finally answered.

"Great, hop on in!" The man's toothed smile unnerved Castiel a bit, but he did as he was told "You look tired, there's a small town with a motel just half an hour's drive away" The man explained. Castiel simply nodded, but said nothing. The term awkward silence was something he wasn't familiar with. "I'm Bob by the way". The man said after a few minutes, extending his hand toward Castiel. "I'm Castie.l" Castiel replied as he slowly returned the gesture and shook hands with Bob. The motions humans went through to introduce themselves, still felt strange to him. "Castiel? Now that's an unusual name." The rest of the ride was filled with Bob's non-stop talking, he didn't seem to mind sharing his entire life story with a complete stranger.

"Here we are" Bob announced about half an hour later, as they drove past a worn-out sighed that read **'Welcome to Archers Hollow'**. Castiel looked around, but didn't see much that resembled a town, just a few wooden houses here and there in between the trees. This wasn't like any town he'd seen before. "I know it's not much, but the folks here are good people" Bob commented as if he'd read Castiel's thoughts. Five minutes later they stopped in front of a dirty old building that was the only motel in town. It located was in a slightly busier street with a row of shops on either side. The city centre according to Bob. "There you go." Bob said, looking expectantly at his hitchhiker. Castiel was unsure of what to do next. Would a simple 'thank you' suffice, did he have to shake the man's hand again or maybe even hug him? He decided to go with the first option.

"Thank you" He simply said before stepping out of the car and into the cold winter air. Not sparing Bob another glance, he slowly headed for the motel's entrance.

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A frustrated Castiel slammed the door so hard it nearly fell off its hinges. Considering the state of the wooden object, he was actually quite surprised it didn't. The motel owner had assured him the extra 'peep-holes' in the old rotten door had been created on purpose. To serve as extra ventilation during the crazy, hot American summers. Castiel didn't know much about humans and their crazy inventions, but he wasn't stupid. He recognised a bullet hole when he saw one. All in all Castiel had nothing to complain about though. The motel owner had given him a room, no questions asked. He must've looked worse than he thought. Castiel knew he couldn't stay long. Soon the owner would demand payment and Castiel had no idea how human currency worked. He once saw Dean exchange a green note with some pictures and numbers on it for a plate of food at a dinner, but that was all. He sighed and felt a twinge of _sadness?_ As he thought about the Winchester brothers. He had considered them close friends once, but that was before…

He wasn't going to stay for long anyway. He just needed some time for his, weak, human body to recover and then he'd be on his way to find and help people in need. Although he had no idea where to start looking. With a frustrated sigh he dropped himself on the worn-out couch, that had more holes in it than cheddar cheese and turned on the TV. At least he had already learned to use a remote.

…And in local news, three teenagers have mysteriously gone missing over the last two weeks in Archers Hollow, a small town along the Hudson river. At first the police suspected a local marketing stunt in order to attract more tourists to the small settlement as the town is located only a few miles from the much more famous town of Sleepy Hollow. Which is known for the legend of the headless horseman….

Castiel sighed. It still surprised him how humans always managed to get off topic so easily. He only half listened as the perky red-headed anchor rambled on about a man named Johnny Depp.

It sounded like the people in need had already come to him.

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 **To be continued.**

Please, please, pleaseeee leave a review to let me know what you think and beta's are more than welcome.


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